Explanation:
Dark dust lanes cut across the middle of this gorgeous
island universe, a strong hint that
NGC 3628 is a spiral galaxy
seen sideways.
About 35 million light-years away in the
northern springtime
constellation
Leo, NGC 3628
bears the distinction of being the only member of the well known
Leo
triplet of galaxies not in Charles
Messier's famous catalog.
Otherwise similar in size to our
Milky Way
Galaxy, the disk of
NGC 3628 is clearly seen to fan out near the edges.
A faint arm of material extends to the upper left.
The distorted shape and faint
tidal tail suggest that
NGC 3628
is interacting gravitationally with the other spiral galaxies in
the Leo triplet,
M66 and M65.
The dusty disk of NGC 3628 is also dotted with the telltale
reddish hues of star-forming regions in this
sharp telescopic view.
Explore the
full
resolution version here.